![\"Hao-Tong](\"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/gear\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Nike-Athlete-Hao-Tong-Li-in-Spring-131.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIf you have been following professional golf at all this season, there is a good chance you have heard the name Guan Tianlang. In case you haven\u2019t, Guan is the 14-year-old amateur from China who made golf history by becoming the youngest player to ever make the cut at the Masters in April.<\/p>\n
The story here, however, may not be Guan\u2019s age or amateur status, but his nationality. And the Chinese spotlight in golf has just gotten a bit bigger. Nike Golf has officially announced the addition of Hao-Tong Li and Xin-Jun Zhang to its growing list of staff players.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s another country in the world that is putting as much into golf as China, in terms of the resources, energy and money,\u201d said Michael Dickie, the Scotland-born head coach of China\u2019s women\u2019s Olympic team, in a CNN article in April.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hao-Tong Li. Photo courtesy of Nike.<\/p>\n
Li, from the Hunan Province of China, turned professional in 2011 at the age of 16. He won nine gold medals and six silver medals in the Asian games as an amateur. He was named the \u201cBest Amateur Player\u201d and finished tied for 21st in the 2011 One Asia Nanshan Masters. Li was a part of the Chinese National Team in 2010 and 2011. This year, he has already finished tied for 39th place at the Australian PGA Championship and tied for fifth at the New Zealand PGA Championship, respectively.<\/p>\n
His counterpart, Zhang, is from the Shanxi Province and turned pro in 2010 at the age of 23. Zhang was also a part of the Chinese National Team representing his country in international tournaments in 2007. As a pro, he tied for 13th in the 2011 Shanghai HSBC Championship. He has also won two gold medals and a silver medal in Chinese Professional Tournaments in 2011 and 2012.<\/p>\n
![\"Xin-Jun](\"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/gear\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Nike-Athlete-Xin-Jun-Zhang-in-Spring-13.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Xin-Jun Zhang. Photo courtesy of Nike.<\/p>\n
With an estimated population of 1.35 billion, golf is a rapidly growing sport in China with vast potential.<\/p>\n
Just last year, 14-year-old Andy Zhang became the youngest player in the history of the U.S. Open. Earlier this year, Ye Wocheng became the youngest golfer to qualify for a European Tour event at the age of 12. On the women\u2019s side, Shanshan Feng became the first Chinese player to join the LPGA in 2008 and became the first major winner from China when she won the Wegmans LPGA Championship last year. She is currently ranked seventh in the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn China, they are incredibly passionate and you see how the game is growing,\u201d said Hank Haney, the former swing coach of Tiger Woods. \u201cWe\u2019re going to see more and more great golfers coming from Asia. It won\u2019t be long before China is a big part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Nike signed two-time major winner Rory McIlroy. The details of the contract were undisclosed but it is believed to be somewhere between $150 and $250 million. According to multiple reports, Tiger Woods is close to a contract extension with Nike that would surpass McIlroy\u2019s deal. He is expected to sign the deal shortly after this weekend\u2019s U.S. Open. Other players on Nike\u2019s roster include Charl Schwartzel and Michelle Wie.<\/p>\n
Li\u2019s Nike Golf Arsenal<\/p>\n
Driver: Nike VR_S Covert (8.5 \u00a0degrees, Neutral)<\/p>\n
Fairway Wood: Nike VR_S Covert Tour 3-wood (14 degrees)<\/p>\n
Hybrid: Nike VR_S Covert 2-hybrid (17 degrees)<\/p>\n
Irons: Nike VR Pro Blades (3-PW)<\/p>\n
Wedges: Nike VR Forged (50 and 60)<\/p>\n
Putter: Nike Method 001 Prototype<\/p>\n
Ball: Nike 20XI X<\/p>\n
Footwear: Nike Lunar Control<\/p>\n
Zhang\u2019s Nike Golf Arsenal<\/p>\n
Driver: Nike VR_S Covert (8.5 degrees, Neutral)<\/p>\n
Fairway Wood: Nike VR Pro Limited Edition (15 degrees)<\/p>\n
Hybrid: Nike VR_S 2-hybrid (17 degrees)<\/p>\n
Irons: Nike VR Pro Blades (3-PW)<\/p>\n
Wedges: Nike VR Forged (52 and 58)<\/p>\n
Putter: Nike Method 006<\/p>\n
Ball: Nike 20XI X<\/p>\n
Footwear: Nike Lunar Control<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you have been following professional golf at all this season, there is a good chance you have…","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"csco_display_header_overlay":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_volume":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[742,743],"class_list":["post-10845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nike-golf","tag-nike","tag-nike-golf","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@fogolf\/117307598675448836","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/gear\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/gear\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/gear\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/gear\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/gear\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/gear\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/gear\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/gear\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/gear\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/gear\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}